1. Field
This disclosure relates to secure optical communications systems.
2. Background
Secure communication systems are a cornerstone of government, business and military interests. Generally, secure communications are established by applying an encryption to a given message to produce an encrypted message, transmitting the encrypted message to a remote location, and decrypting the encrypted message at the remote location.
Unfortunately, the encryption and decryption processes can be computationally expensive, and they are by no means absolutely secure. Further, increasing the level of encryption involves increasing the level of computation and decreasing data transmission efficiency.
Regardless of whatever level of encryption may be used, a threat to the security of any transmitted information may be posed by the possible construction of a quantum computer. If such a computer is eventually constructed, then a known algorithm may be run on such a computer that will enable the computer to “break” virtually every modern data encryption technique in a very short time. Thus, new technology directed to secure data communications may be desirable.